Hello,
I’ve been asked to write a blog…
I’ve re-written this several times, choosing where to start on a blog is proving to be harder than I thought it could be trying to pin point what I should talk about first, I guess the first thing I should do is introduce myself. I’m Dave and I’m co-owner of ‘Pro Wrestling Chaos’ based in Bristol. It’s a company that I have a shared responsibility with my friends, Nick and Rob. It started in 2013 as an experiment that’s got way out of hand to the point where we are now shareholders in a limited company and on any given evening we are responsible for at least 30 staff with the aim of putting on the best show we are capable of doing.
We never had a plan, we still don’t, that’s why it’s called Chaos. This little company shouldn’t really be doing what’s it’s doing now. At the start, we had no experience in promoting, terrible graphics, a venue with a low ceiling, no equipment at all. All we had in June 2013 was simply a group of people that were willing to help us. Were it not for people doing us favours, if that be providing PA equipment or a ring or their bodies for what effectively was and still is little reward to them, we would not of got past show 1, everyone has been willing to give us their talents to make this company be deemed a success. In terms of success that’s me quoting others, the 3 of us that run this, still find this mind blowing, I genuinely mean that, to us, this doesn’t seem real.
Success is an interesting word. In terms of the perception of our company, to others, we are ‘successful’. There’s lots of people at our shows and those fans like our product so it’s seen as a success, in terms of financially, as shareholders, it’s a terrible business currently. Hand on heart, we have not taken a single penny out for ourselves. Any profit has been re-invested it back into the product, to the point where the majority of what you see on a Chaos show is now owned by us. If we had of taken money out, we wouldn’t of been able to get to this point.
So I’m sitting here asking myself a question, the same question I’m asked on a regular basis, ‘why do we do this?’
Each show takes insanely long hours, time away from families, an incredible amount of effort on an actual show day, countless admin activities, disagreements, arguments, complaints…
Then at 7pm on that night, when MC Hank McCoy goes out to address a crowd and you see 500+ people, who have been willing to part with their own hard earned money to pay to see something that they believe in as much as you do. People that ‘get it’, understand what our product is, are more than happy to give as much of their own energy as an audience to those performing in the ring, knowing that you’ve helped forge new friendships out there between strangers who 3 years ago didn’t know each other, but now make their own T-Shirts, hats, stickers without any involvement from us. It’s perpetual motion, the effort from both sides increases each time. Every member of a Chaos roster knows that they have to be at their very best, not because the fans demand it or we as owners expect it. But because that’s what our audience deserves. We don’t have to tell anyone this, they just know it and go out there and give more than anyone could ask or expect every night to feed into a unique energy that I’ve never been a part of in my 15 years involved in this crazy business.
And finally after a show, you get a message from a mother, saying how much our shows means to their son, how we make them feel special and how much they appreciate what we’ve done for them and their family. It makes you realise that this has and always will be More Than Wrestling, it’s more than a job. It’s a responsibility.
That, is why we do this
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